I've been learning about the story of Achan for a few weeks now. Every time I think I've understood it, I find something new. But now it's time to write about it. As always, your feedback and support is always really helpful and appreciated.
I will first give an overview of the perek, with some interspersed commentary and then go into the deeper and wider background.
As discussed in the previous post,
Yehoshua imposed a strict ban, punishable by death, against keeping personal spoils from Yericho. Once this was decreed by Yehoshua, it was accepted as the din by Hashem. However, Achan, an unethical individual, defied this by taking from the spoils, a fact unknown to all but Hashem. Hashem, angered by this act, chose to use it as a lesson for Bnei Yisrael, withdrawing His divine protection from them.
One might question why the entire nation was held accountable for the misdeed of a single Jew. To understand this, we must rewind back to Chapter 4 and recall that as the Jewish people crossed…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Shui’s Newsletter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.